Good things are brewing for specialty market Siciliano's in Grand Rapids

Darren Breen | The Grand Rapids PressMaking room for more: Stephen Siciliano, the owner of Sicilianoâs Market, is adding 960 square feet to his business to have more room for beer-making and bread-making supplies, craft beers and other specialty items. The store is near the corner of Lake Michigan Drive and Collindale Avenue NW.

GRAND RAPIDS — List in hand, Bruce Ostrow grabbed some malt, syrup, hops, yeast and a hygrometer from the shelf at Siciliano’s Market.

“They have everything here,” the Grand Haven man said as he gathered the ingredients to make a 5-gallon batch of pilsner at home. “Good service, too.”

Ostrow was one of several men at Siciliano’s on Tuesday afternoon, lists in hand, amassing the key beer-making ingredients from a West Side store that has become a destination stop for the home-brew enthusiast.

Business is good, said Stephen Siciliano, who owns the market with his wife, Barb. So much that they are knocking out the west wall in a few weeks to expand into a recently closed pizza bistro.

“It’s a real beer community in Michigan,” said Siciliano, who sells all the equipment and supplies a home brewer could need. They are even overhauling the store’s website this spring to start selling merchandise online.

And it’s not just beer. In addition to being a fully functioning specialty market with cigars, beverage coolers and a liquor shelf, Siciliano’s sells supplies to make wine, mead and cider, as well as cheese and yogurt.

They also are adding bread-making to that list after the expansion, with a flour mill for customers to grind their own rye or wheat.

“We’ve certainly talked to our customers about it, and there seems to be a need,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anybody in town really doing it, so we’re going after it.”

All in all, Siciliano says they are trying to corner the market on artisan food and beverage making while maintaining a feel-good atmosphere and sense of community for customers.

“Our business definitely has been growing,” he said. “We increase every year, and a lot has to do with the fact that we’re increasing inventory every year.”

Using the proceeds from a 7-Eleven franchise followed by a convenience store in the Creston Heights area, Siciliano bought a struggling party near the corner of Lake Michigan Drive and Collindale Avenue NW in 1993 and changed the name from Paul’s Pour House to Siciliano’s Market, hoping to specialize in more quality beverages.

Initially expecting to reverse the store’s fortunes in a hurry, Siciliano said he had to diversify his retail offerings to start drawing foot traffic when business didn’t turn around overnight.

He started selling individually priced craft beer bottles and mix-n-match six-packs, a fairly common practice these days, but “I don’t know if anybody else at the time was doing it.”

“That really started generating income,” he said.

He added beer- and wine-making supplies, not sure whether they would sell. He started with six feet of retail space and, even through the recession, “it just kept on growing.”

Now, the home-brewing supply is a “big” part of his business, he said, without sharing specifics.

He acknowledged being buoyed somewhat by the burgeoning market for craft beer in Michigan.

Michigan’s total of more than 80 breweries ranks fifth nationally, with at least three more planning to open this year. Sales of Michigan craft beer in state supermarkets climbed from $11.2 million in 2007 to $22 million last year, according to Symphony IRI Group, which tracks industry statistics.

“The professional brewers really encourage folks to home brew,” he said. “They don’t look at home brewers as competition.”

“When people start brewing, they continue to buy craft beer. They continue to go out to support the pubs. It just enhances the whole experience.”